Say NO to West Gate Tunnel – rally for a sustainable Melbourne at Brooklyn, December 2017

Originally published in The Westsider: A letter from resident groups of the inner west – The inner west does not need or want the West Gate Tunnel project  (May 2018)

It’s been widely claimed by the government and the press that the west supports the West Gate Tunnel Project. This is not accurate. A small section of one suburb, and one action group support it and even they have serious reservations about it. The rest do not. Community members of the Community Liaison Group made clear to Western Distributor Authority in December 2017 that considerable unresolved issues remained in the project. The City of Melbourne is opposed to the project and the City of Hobsons Bay has flipped flopped over the issues in the face of staunch opposition from its residents. Academics have published a highly critical report and significant professional planning groups have written to government with their concerns about governance and design.

But still the government has continued to proceed and get signed agreements with TransUrban, pushed through gazetting of planning scheme amendments and commenced construction in the knowledge that the community do not support it and the Legislative Council has the numbers to revoke approvals and halt work. The government has used paid advertisements from big companies and the website and press releases of one community organisation to justify it in the Parliament. This is brinkmanship, not good governance.

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